Phone Charging Myths

If you have a mobile phone, chances are that you’ve had an issue with one of your many phones’ batteries.

It happens to us all and we all blame ourselves – “I shouldn’t have used it while it was charging”,“I should have charged it for 24 hours before using it for the first time”, etc.

We al try our best to preserve our precious batteries, especially with removable batteries becoming few and far in between, but what works and what just wastes time? We take a look at some of the most common phone charging myths:

1. Should my new phone be charged fully before using it?

While this might have been true for older phone batteries (like older Nickel cadmium), this is completely unnecessary nowadays, because most manufacturers ship their phones out with almost 40% charge. Actually, if your new phone’s battery does not have a 40% charge, consider returning immediately for a replacement. A less than 40% charge could suggest that the battery is old.

2. You need to leave your phone to charge completely before using it.

Who has the time to wait for a phone to charge completely? And the good news is that you never have to! The reason for this is that modern phone batteries, like Lithium polymer, differ from older nickel-based batteries because there is no memory in the former (charge-discharge patterns).

Again, who has the time to wait for their phones to run out before charging them?

Today’s batteries fare better if they are charged and they might become unstable if you let them drain all the way all the time Think of your battery’s charge cycles as extra-lives in a game: every time your phones batter dies completely, another charge cycle is used up and modern phones only have a finite amount of charge cycles before it’s game-over.

5. I never have to turn off my phone, right?

Wrong!

Like any machine or device, it is always a good idea to turn your phone off sometimes. A reboot now and then at the very least.

In fact, Apple and Android both suggest that turning off your phone once in a while will improve your battery life on your device.